This game is called Crayon Physics Deluxe. I can’t describe it better than Austin Grossman did on (excellent new Gawker site) i09. It’s essentially a “magic book”. Watch all the way through. Every new scenario continues to amaze.

With stuff like this still being invented we haven’t even scratched the surface of what kind of interesting [...]

I’m not a huge Second Life fan or detractor. Mostly I’m annoyed that what seems like such a cool opportunity is marred by a horrible user experience and downright ugly graphics. Maybe Blue Mars (based on the Kim Stanley Robinson novel I’m guessing) is the answer.

Gorgeous, but with steep hardware requirements to accompany it. Some [...]

In the early ’90s, way before all this crazy internet stuff, we still would get excited about new client software (I still do actually), and there were a series of games for the Mac (and Windows too now) that occupied our hearts and sapped our productivity for some time — Little Wing Pinball. Crystal Caliburn, [...]

It’s amazing how your memory can play tricks on you. In 1982 I was heading into the 8th grade and my console videogame experience was limited to my Atari 2600 and glimpses of Intellivision at other people’s houses and being hawked by the John Hodgman of the day. But then I saw the ColecoVision which [...]

While I don’t love the music (and I’m not a Halo guy), I did really enjoy the ad for Halo 3 where a grizzly battle scene is constructed out of action figures in all sorts of cool hand-painted detail. After two attempts to view the ad on official sites that didn’t work (no clue why) [...]

As with most parents I have a strong sense of responsibility for making sure my kids are exposed to as many cool things as possible so as they get older the world is their oyster and not overwhelming, scary, and unknown. Giving them music lessons (my six-year-old son plays the drums, and my four-year-old daughter [...]

For a long time I’ve thought of myself as a hardcore gamer. But the truth is that I’m really not. At a certain point (around the PlayStation 1) I started migrating to mostly playing sports games and casual games. There was the Tomb Raider period certainly, but that was kind of an exception. And in [...]

I remember once talking to the head of game development at one of the top video game developers in the world and asking him when they would remake M.U.L.E. He looked at me a little quizzically, but then had a look of fond reminescence and said, “yeah… that would be a good idea.” He never [...]

If you watch almost any TV you’ve likely seen the ad blitz from Burger King promoting their three new videogames for the Xbox 360.

The deal is, you go to Burger King, buy an extra value meal, and then can purchase one of the three games for only $3.99. These are not exactly throwaway games either. [...]

Writing about Lego Star Wars made me think more about how much I used to love videogames and how so many of today’s games don’t bring out the same excitement and wonder that some of the games did when I was growing up. I dug through some old papers and found this brochure from Activision [...]

In his book Everything Bad is Good for You, Steven Johnson writes what teachers and parents might have said had videogames been invented before books:
“Reading books chronically understimulates the senses. Unlike the longstanding traditions of gameplaying - which engages the child in a vivid, three-dimensional world filled with moving images and musical soundscapes, navigated and [...]